Testimonials

We love our clients! Here are some testimonials and reviews from them.

“I just wanted to extend a personal thank you to you and the staff at India House in making our Annual Members’ meeting a success.Everything was great and my compliments to the Chef. I haven’t stopped talking about how wonderful that Chilean Sea Bass was. All your extra efforts, including the blue lighting, and menu cards was such a nice added touch and was so very much appreciated. I look forward to working with you again in the future.” – Marie Peterson, Excess Line Association of New York, 5/8/2014

“We would like to thank you and your staff for setting up a great night! We got a lot of great feedback from our staff. During the planning process, we appreciate you taking the time to answer all of our questions quickly and clearly. You and your staff were very receptive to all of our ideas and were able to effectively create our vision. You were all such a pleasure to work with and we’ll definitely be back! “- Amy Yu, Fragomen Worlwide, 5/1/2014

“Morning Jessica! It was a very fun martini hour last night in your beautiful India House. Thank you so much for inviting me. I met a couple of very interesting people while cueing for a cocktail. And all those yummy hors d’oeuvres were delicious! Grace was kind enough to give my friend Kathleen and I the ‘cook’s tour’ through the building which she really appreciated.

I meant to bring a copy of the sketch below for you, but alas, forgot. Sorry. The artist, Christina Sun, is a local artist who does beautiful and ‘fanciful’ line drawings that I love! This one was on the Bowsprite blog earlier in the week. She donated a fabulous sketch of the Fireboat for our raffle Monday night and was in attendance as well. I thought you would like to see the beginning of her piece.

Again, thank you for all that you did for our event this week. You did a remarkable job and made everything so much easier than it might have been. There were so many compliments from guests about how lovely the space and food were. I hope to see you again soon. Keep in touch, Jessica, and enjoy your weekend!”

CheersDiane Storm –Event on 11/04/13

“Thank you so much to you and all of the staff at India House for making the event on Saturday a great time. We received numerous compliments from our guests on the food and venue…”

-Jessica Sharma, 9/23/13

“While we only had less than 3 months to plan our wedding reception at India House, everything turned out beautifully and very well organized. We worked with Jessica and the planning was painless. India House is a really beautiful venue and our guests loved it.”

– Jillian Bazzoni, 9/6/13

“Michael and I, again, want to thank you for the wonderful event you and your staff provided for us at India House. We were thrilled with how everything turned out. From the moment we started working with you, Kevin, we were put at ease, and knew we were in good hands. We appreciate that we were able to revamp our menu, and your suggestions proved to be perfect choices. The hor’doevres were plentiful, hot, and delicious, service and presentation at dinner, was wonderful, and loved the dessert that you and your chef came up with. The fruit napoleon was a perfect light, but flavorful summer dessert. Your staff was very attentive, and a special “shout out” goes to Julia, who was just a doll to me. I also want to add that under your management India House, truly is looking so much better than we saw it in January. So, thank you so much for helping our rehearsal dinner a truly memorable event! In the future, we’d be very happy to provide recommendations for you and India House.

– N. & M. Ritter, 8/18/2013

“I don’t know which of you found this place for this event, but it is perfect! Masterpiece Catering recently took over and are directing the catering now. A terrific idea, thank you.”

– R.G. , 8/2/2013

“We chose India House for our wedding ceremony and reception on 8/7/16. I will be forever glad that we decided to host our wedding there. When we started searching for a summer 2016 wedding venue, we spent hours doing careful research. In the end, we discovered India House by chance and I like to think it was serendipity at work: I had a prohibitive work schedule, so my husband and mom were tasked with visiting venues. One day, after viewing several duds, my husband called Morningside Castle in a last ditch effort to see one last venue for the day. He was informed that the Castle doesn’t host summer weddings, but their sister venue, India House, does. They jumped on the opportunity and traipsed over. They were immediately enamored. After hearing their effusive endorsements, I quickly made an appointment to see this magical place myself. The first time I laid eyes upon the mansion’s character-filled majesty, I was sold. We were further enticed by the staff’s superior customer service (e.g., we were served food and beverage at the Blue Bar after our tour). The icing on the cake (literally): India House would take care of all the catering and we wouldn’t have to rent anything (e.g., linens, utensils, etc.). From the contract signing to the day of the wedding, we worked with Arlinda. She was responsive and worked with us on every wedding day detail. The biggest wedding planning highlight was the food tasting. Arlinda graciously allowed my parents to join and it was a delightful evening of palate pampering. The quality and presentation of the food was impressive and the bartender worked with us until he got our signature drink just right. Also, a few weeks before the wedding, with Arlinda’s help, we were also able to figure out the perfect spot in India House for the first look photos. That was huge relief! Fast forward to our rehearsal, which went swimmingly: Arlinda and her team had refreshments waiting for us! And they were patient with us, making sure that everyone was comfortable with the ceremony proceedings. Our wedding day was stunningly sunny so we were able to get photos in Hanover Square, along the waterfront, and on quaint Stone Street. Because we had approx. 200 guests, we had the whole mansion to ourselves. I particularly loved that the events of the evening took place on different floors. It could have been mayhem, but Arlinda and her team guided the evening along and made sure everyone knew where they needed to be and that they were well attended to. Overall, the day was peppered with thoughtful touches: Whatever we needed (a steamer, Krazy glue, drink refills, etc.) was quickly addressed; our bride and groom suites were stocked with breakfast and lunch while we got ready; right after our ceremony, Arlinda and her team had an assortment of hors d’oeuvres and prosecco awaiting us in a private room so that we could regroup before joining our guests for the cocktail hour. Final thoughts: We didn’t have an outdoor wedding, but we were able to have a change of scenery throughout the night. Our guests were blown away by the venue and the food. We left for our honeymoon feeling like we had the perfect evening to celebrate such a momentous day. Thank you so much to Arlinda and the entire India House team! – Natasha M., 09/06/2016

“My husband and I had an amazing experience with Masterpiece Caterers at India House! We held our wedding reception there two weeks ago, and the staff and facilities were incredible from the beginning of the process to the end. Leading up to the event, our coordinator Jessica was helpful, friendly, and responsive to questions and requests. She worked with us and our vendors to ensure that we had everything we needed, and arranged meetings whenever I requested them so we could visit the space and discuss plans. On the day of the event, Katherine and Alanna, who coordinated at the reception, and their team were extremely attentive and helpful, both to my husband and me and to all our guests. They made everything seem effortless and were always right there when anything was needed. We were allowed to begin dropping off reception items (decor, favors, etc.) five days beforehand. Of course, we ran late and brought everything to India House the morning of the event, but the staff was very kind and did not object to our last minute drop-offs at all and they set up everything beautifully. Masterpiece Caterers’ chefs are incredible. My husband and I refer to our tasting as “the best lunch date ever,” because it was so fun and delicious. The tasting courses were all so good, it was very difficult to pick which ones we wanted to serve at the reception! The caterer was able to accommodate vegetarian and vegan guests and guests with food allergies with special meals, and the bartenders had no trouble whipping up our signature cocktails. The cake, which was provided by Financier Patisserie as part of the contract with Masterpiece Caterers, was amazing (all three cakes we opted to try were excellent, but the French strawberry shortcake custard cake we decided on was magnificent). Not only delicious, it was also lovely, with sugar flowers in our wedding colors on each tier (I had been unsure whether cake decorations would cost extra, but was thrilled to learn that they were included in the price!). In addition to Masterpiece Caterers’ great staff and contractors, India House itself is beautiful. The architecture is classic, with clean lines and high ceilings, not cluttered up by too much decoration. We did not need to bring in outside lighting, because the Marine Ballroom can be subtly lit in various colors (we chose a golden glow to offset the candles in our centerpiece arrangements, and it looked very natural and warm). The building has been recently renovated, and is in better shape than some other spaces we considered. There is also an elevator, which was helpful both for our vendors and for less mobile guests, as well as restrooms on every floor (some spaces we saw didn’t have them so well distributed). We held our cocktail hour in the red room on the first floor, then brought everyone upstairs to the third floor for the reception. This gave our vendors time to put finishing touches on the ballroom even while our cocktail hour was starting downstairs. All in all, it was a perfect night, due to the hard work of the staff of Masterpiece Caterers and India House! Thank you, we can’t recommend you enough!” – Megan B., 08/19/2016

“SIMPLY MAGNIFICENT! We first visited India House soon after becoming engaged and immediately loved the look and feel of the historic venue. We booked our wedding the first time we visited! We had a small wedding. We had the ceremony in the Hanover Room and our reception on the 2nd floor in a multi-room set up with dinner, dancing, and merriment! Everything from planning the wedding to the night of was perfection. Kevin and his team are true professionals and visionaries. My husband and I wanted to customize many aspects of the wedding to honor both of our heritages. Kevin was beyond accommodating the entire time and brought the night to life in a way beyond my wildest dreams! Additionally, Kevin and his staff are very hands on and walked us through all the tiny details, so we truly enjoyed the big day. I will never forget the feeling of seeing all of the elements come together the night of. Everything that I had imagined in my wildest dreams was better than I could have hoped for! The flowers, the candy bar, the wine bar, and every detail we had hoped for looked like an unbelievable dream scape. I can’t forget the food! Sometimes catered food can be somewhat underwhelming. Not in this case! The dinner was delicious and amazing. People commented that it was an unforgettable meal. The cocktail hour, appetizers, cheese board, were raved about! The seated dinner was perfect. Scallops, fish, and steak cooked to perfection and seasoned perfectly. We also decided to do TWO wedding cakes. One traditional and one French. The in house patisserie, Financier, again blew us away. The colors of the flowers and details were unreal! I keep looking at photos and reliving each moment. The cakes were also the most delicious we had ever tasted. We chose flavors that reminded us of childhood, and they were absolutely delicious. If you want an unbelievable, unforgettable, and romantic night, trust Kevin at Masterpiece. I am a high strung person. I asked many questions throughout the planning and had a ton ideas. My only regret is that I fretted or worried at all during the planning process. Every item and each detail was so thoroughly though out and tended to by the Masterpiece staff, that I should have relaxed for the whole engagement. Our wedding at India House was the best party anyone had ever attended! Pure happiness and perfection. I wish I could relive the entire night in slow motion and savor each taste and experience one more time. Thank you, Kevin and staff!” – Regan O., 07/14/2016